Bernice Bobs Her Hair Response

“Bernice Bobs Her Hair” is a witty, charming, and intelligent story about a girl, named Bernice, who had a cousin who was quite malicious and selfish. It started with Bernice being a boring nuisance to her cousin, whom she was visiting. From there, her cousin, Marjorie, took Bernice under her wing and taught her to be attractive to men. Bernice became so attractive, in fact, that she caught the attention of Marjorie’s worshiper, Warren McIntyre, who becomes infatuated with Bernice and her new found sense of herself. Envy rises up in Marjorie and she seeks to destroy Bernice, which she succeeds in doing by tricking her into cutting her long hair to a bob, then subtly throwing it in Bernice’s face. In the end, however, Bernice cuts Marjorie’s long hair and peace is restored within the reader’s heart.

Along with the great story line, this short story is filled with many rhetorical tropes. The author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, includes many uses of allusion in his story. There is a sentence in which Bernice quotes “Little Women”, a novel by American writer Louisa May Alcott. She says, “Don’t you think common kindness----”. This is probably included to point out that Bernice was dependent on sources other than herself to let people know how she was feeling. She went to a book when talking to Marjorie; just like she turned to the advice of Marjorie when talking to the many boys she met. Another example of an allusion used in this story was when Bernice was talking to G. Reece at a dinner-dance. She used a quote from Oscar Wilde, an Irish author, saying “You’ve either got to amuse people or feed ‘em or shock ‘em. This was probably included because Oscar Wilde was known as a witty writer, and in this situation Bernice’s main goal was to be looked upon as “witty”. Fitzgerald refers to Marie Antoinette, who was executed by guillotine in 1793, when describing the way that Bernice felt when she was on her way to the barber shop. The author most likely included this to give a better idea of how Bernice felt about getting her hair practically cut off. If the reader didn’t know anything about Marie Antoinette, they probably still wouldn’t have had a hard time relating her experience to Bernice’s, because the author made it evident that she was beheaded.

There were also a number of metaphors and similes used in Fitzgerald’s story. Bernice referred to Marjorie as a “peach” for helping her with her changes. This does not literally mean that she thinks that Marjorie is a fruit, but it is her way of metaphorically saying that she is a sweet girl for offering her assistance. Bernice also announces that she wants to be a “society vampire.” This metaphor means that she wants to prowl the social scene, be seen, and be popular. When referring to the barber shop that Bernice was to go to, Fitzgerald states that “it was a guillotine indeed”. This is not literally a place where Bernice will go to get her head cut off, but it is what can be looked at as the end of her social life. It is used to add more color to the story and to build upon the allusion of Marie Antoinette.

Scott Fitzgerald compares Marjorie’s hands, as she was braiding her hair, to “restive snakes” by using the word “like”. This simile is most likely used to give the reader a negative image of Marjorie. A snake is most often looked at as a bane to goodness, so comparing her hands to snakes points out the fact that she was a malicious person. Another simile is used when Bernice was viewing her hair shortly after it had been cut. She said, “It was ugly as sin.” As the reader discovers in the beginning of the story, Bernice is a very reserved and moral person. So her comparing her hair to sin is saying that she her complete and utter distaste for it. It is a big deal, because to someone like Bernice, sin is just about one of the ugliest things out there. This simile was used to let the reader know how horrible Bernice felt about her new hairstyle. All in all, this was a charming story that was filled with many rhetorical tropes, such as allusions, metaphors, and similes.